BrianK

Well said, good thread. Even in peacetime we lose soldiers and lots of folks don't realize that. I was on hazardous duty, yet never served in a combat zone, and we lost soldiers. I was once snidely asked by a coworker why I never took part in a public display for Memorial Day. He didn't get it and I told him that for me every day is Memorial Day. How does one escape the folks one knew who are now dead?

Nice!

Yes, they are loud. I have an Excalibur also and my neighbor 100 yards away can hear it when I shoot. But they're not as loud as a firearm. The first time I shot it at a friends house I thought he was going to poop himself. He shoots a vertical bow and he couldn't believe the accuracy. Me? I didn't know it was something exceptional. Buy I soon learned to put the arrow where I wanted it and not to shoot a group or I could split an arrow.

Yes. I wonder what goes through the minds of folks who think they're going to hit the road with nowhere to go and the fuel pumps also not working. I happen to be rural and will just hunker down, can't do anything else, but even when I was more able that was my plan. 100% correct, no aerial resupply for anyone but maybe the folks who could be the enemy. I put nothing beyond our go'vermin and what they would do. If I was still able and had to go cross country it would be on foot or by ATV trails and I'd bring my 5# AR and a bunch of ammo for it. I'd also be the unseen mouse and try not to engage anyone. Basically the same rules for no engagements when carrying today as a concealed carrier. One wins every engagement that is dodged. I would definitely NOT be looking for trouble. I also won't be looking for trouble when hunkered down at the homestead. But won't shy away from it if it's a serious issue. It depends on circumstances. I'll help good folks if I'm able.

It appears there are lots of old SOBs on this forum. Glad to make your acquaintances and to be another. I know my land and they don't. Shots are short, it's heavily wooded Maine and I practice that as often as possible in USPSA competition and was trained in Quick Kill (just google it). I have no possibility of surviving long term but I'll give it hell!

Like Magwa my warrior days are over. I'm going nowhere. So I'll grab the suppressed 300BLK handgun I recently built and hunker down. At least that's my plan now and in fact as I write it's next to the bed 15' away. Like everything though it's subject to change.

Sorry, I can't get a link because Windows has hijacked my computer for an update and when that happens the kindergarten programmers that do the updates think my computer belongs to them. I hate Windows! Basically my computer has been down for 24 hours. Back now. I still hate Windows! I've been using the ETS magloader for rifle mags for years of competition. I can load a days worth of mags, 30 rounders in minutes. I've used it for 9mm, 300BLK, and 5.56. Like most loaders (not all) the rounds need to be in boxes with the base up. No specific box though. My boxes are Dillon, but since I case gauge all of my 9mm ammo 100 at a time with the appropriate case gauge (shockbottle) it's no big deal to put them in the boxes. It goes really fast. It also works with factory ammo boxes. The Maglula pictured above works really great too for 5.56 and 300BLK, is much smaller, is less frail, and doesn't require special boxing. It's not as fast as the ETS, but I always have it in my range bag. Maglula makes really good stuff! Love their 10/22 loader/unloader too! ETS also makes a loader for handgun mags but I never got mine to work and no longer have it. I gave it away to someone who also couldn't get it to work. I was loading 9mm M&P mags, he was loading 9mm Glock mags.

Be advised, not AR10. Ordered a Volquartsen carbon fiber barrel and fore-end for my 10/22 Charger SBR today. The accuracy of the finished SBR was depressing. It wasn't horrible, but for me only accurate guns are interesting and I didn't consider it accurate. My build met the goal I had for it, the smallest rifle I could build. But better accuracy would have been nice. I do use it for Steel Challenge and it's great for that. Hopefully this barrel with pic' rail attached to the barrel will do what I want. I'll know in 3-6 weeks since everyone is out of stock. I'll need to attach a 3 lug quick attach adapter (HK?) then it's done. Anyway, it's a standard 3 lug adapter whatever it's called. I might even have a spare in parts. I need to check. Initially I wasn't going to order the new barrel due to the $. But someone convinced me. I want to be happy with what I built. Yes, it'll make the take down SBR quite a bit larger (longer) when in pieces. See far below. The pistol grip folds today, that's an old picture. https://www.opticsplanet.com/volquartsen-firearms-lightweight-threaded-rifle-barrel-and-forend-ruger-22-charg.html

Congrats on a good build! FWIW, the lens does make the barrel seem REALLY long, but that's photography.

I think you'll like it Sisco (from what I've read about it). It's basically the HP v 2.0 with everything fixed that folks paid big bux to get fixed in years past. I wish mine didn't bite me. But I'll lose too much $ to sell mine, buy new, and start all over again. The things that were wrong with the HP doomed it to newer designs and Browning didn't make changes. SA did, and if you're going to make a "new" handgun why not fix it from the get go? Back slaps to SA! If you get one let us know how you like it. IMO the HP has the best ergonomics of any handgun ever made. I'd like to know if SA perfected it.

The info I have on the SA HP is that it's superior (out of the box) to the original. No mag safety to remove, reduced or totally missing hammer bite, I wish I had one but I'm not going to sell my HP from '73 to get one. I had lots of work done to mine, sights, trigger, NP3 coating, Bar-Sto barrel. Mine hasn't had a mag safety for decades. If I was thinking of a HP today it would be the SA version w/o a doubt. That would also put some time between acquisitions.

Hi!

Not out of an AR10, but out of a .308 Encore handgun I shot 55grain bullets with a sabot. I doubt they would feed in a semi-auto. The powder was extremely fast for .308 and blast was incredible. Powder was nothing anyone would ever use in a normal .308/7.62. I remember 3600 fps. Accuracy was "mehh", memory tells me 3" @ 100 yards. For me that's not very good. I discussed it with the sabot manufacturer and he told me that was all I could expect. End of project. Is it Speer that made (still makes?) 100 grain "plinkers". I've shot those out of a bolt action, I didn't have a chronograph at the time so don't know the velocity. As already mentioned light bullets are a short range affair or mortar them in. I did contact Speer to ask about max' velocity for the bullet and was told "as fast as you can drive them". The jacket was a barely formed cup and super thick.

😀 I have an uncle in Toms River. You folks definitely are fighting the current! I told my family that they're absolutely welcome to come up, but bye, bye, we're gone, you're not holding me in NJ! They see what I have and what I can buy in the LGS and they have open jaws. They can't believe what freedom actually means.

You don't need to stay at the low end, just find out what pressure signs are and understand that some pressure signs can be seen, except they can also be false. I'm thinking of primers here. Some are soft and hard so they can lead one astray. That's why I asked if you had a mic that reads to the 1/10000th. Brass will start to flow when we get into the range of danger. Mark a case on 2 sides of the head, measure. Then fire and measure again. There is a point at which one backs off. I haven't pushed pressure in so long that I forgot specifics. But it's online somewhere. But I'll also state that it's not a bad thing to stay away from high end loads. I go even further and severely download at times. It saves the wrist, shoulder, powder, and less powder burning in the barrel helps lengthen barrel life. Personally, (did I already write this?) if I need more ft/lbs I get a bigger cartridge rather than push pressure and velocity. I didn't always think that way (young and foolish!) but today I do. Thank god I never blew anything up but I came close once. Yes, it was my fault, but it wasn't at the same time. I'll explain. On the list of never do this... I once ordered 1k of .224 bullets. there were maybe 800 in similar packaging, but the rest were in slightly different packaging. I thought nothing of it. My test loads were showing 2x the number of holes in the target with 2 distinct groups and when I checked the brass something was definitely wrong. Unbelievable pressure signs! No mic required to see that the case heads had expanded. It was a clearly safe load that I had loaded, yet it wasn't. So I backed up and checked things when I got home. Everything checked out, yet I still had those unbelievable pressure signs. After scratching my head for a while, it made no sense! What I didn't check were the bullets and that was the "Ahh Ha!" moment. I measured them and they were .228" for some off the wall .22 centerfire that was long out of production (.22 Savage?), but they were used to fill my order. I missed the fine print on the boxes. I was swaging them down .004 in the barrel. The cores and jackets were separating and that gave me 2 groups on target. Other than a broken extractor the gun and operator were fine. FWIW it was a Ruger Mini-14. They make one very strong firearm. That was maybe 45 years ago. Today everything is suspect and I check everything I am able to. Pressure is our friend but it can get out of hand in a nanosecond. One good thing about ARs, the action is extremely strong. But you still have the right attitude to treat it with respect. Just curious, where are you in NJ? Only in general, I'm not looking for your address. That's where I lived 40+ years ago before I moved to a free state, and still have family down there. You folks have to swim upstream in rapids and waterfalls to have decent firearms. I got out before the madness really got going there. I had a secret clearance from the military and when I got out got my FOID in a very short time and I got permits to buy handguns in a day (seriously), so I didn't see what others saw. I went to buy a stereo and needed 2 forms of ID for them to take my check. I had one. The salesman rattled off a bunch of IDs and the last one he mentioned was the FOID, "But no one has those.", he stated. I pulled mine out and he looked it over. He'd never seen one before. I knew then to get the hell out of NJ. That happened at Gem Electronics in Paramus. I was raised in Ramsey and after getting out of the military lived in Pequannock for a time. The only reason I go back are for funerals.

FWIW, I'm pretty sure he mentioned 9mm. Sure if he loads only "normal" bottleneck cartridges he'll be OK, as long as he doesn't load subsonic with fast powders such as the 300BLK. I just assume everyone gets more guns and cartridges and goes more in depth. But yes, not everyone is me asking, "What if?" and then go out and make it happen. One of my subsonic loads is in .223 and uses just a few grains of Green Dot under an 80 grain bullet. No, it doesn't cycle the action of an AR. Another subsonic load in the Contender pushes a 35gr bullet and that uses even less powder. I have no idea just how deep he's going to get into the hobby. I never thought I'd be doing what I do today 55 years ago. Whatever.

Evolution of a metallic handloader, that would be me (and another). Maybe this will help, if not just ignore it. I started reloading for my brother who was in college in Utah in the late 60s. He wanted .300 Norma magnum for a Parker/Hale bolt action. I was told what to load and did under his guidance. I hated that cartridge/firearm. It was brutal. From there I moved to 9mm and loaded for a Browning Hi-Power for me. All of that on a single stage press (RCBS Rockchucker which I still use today half a century later). From there I started loading .38 Special for competition, 1k rounds a month. I just fired for groups I had no other data to work with. But they just needed to make holes. The RockChucker worked fine for years and I still use it today for load development, bullet pulling, and swaging brass into another cartridge, swaging bullets too. But 2 decades ago (or so) the wife asked if I wanted a Dillon and I gave in. I shoot alot and it would save me lots of time. It's what I use today but IMO it's not a good first press. One needs to know how to make good ammo before getting a progressive press. One can make a lot of garbage really fast with a progressive. OK, story, not me as the lead character... I once knew a family with a child who fancied himself a shooter. He wanted to reload .223/5.56 and bought a Dillon progressive press. He didn't want to waste time actually learning how to handload. He just wanted ammo now. He loaded max loads from the loading manuals, never testing anything. When his local supply ran out of one powder he bought another and loaded it to the max'. They've moved away and it's been decades since. I tried to explain to him, but he knew more than I did. I hope he learned. At some point you might want a progressive press, but not at this time. First learn to handload. Later once you learn the craft you might find that it's time for a progressive press. FWIW, a progressive makes a finished cartridge with every pull of the handle. One can also really screw up with double powder charges and that will ruin ones day so you want to know what you're doing and how the press works. The Dillon does it's best to not produce double charges but I've done it and knew I was doing it and caught it every time.

I know there are matches down by you. Can't remember the range (town) where I shot an outlaw steel challenge match years ago, but SC is lots of fun, outlaw match or not. It's drag racing with firearms, just go as fast as you can. Every once in awhile folks from southern Maine car pool up to Augusta or Hampden. Maybe go to a match near you and make connections? I'm an old guy with too much gear so I drive myself and stay sorta local. Hampden is as far as I go. Maybe some day we'll shake hands.

I confess I didn't know where Acton was so I looked it up. Lots of water by you and it looks to be out of the woke mess that is Portland. Doesn't look there is a good way to get there either. That's good. 😀 Re: competition, there's always a first time. There's only one way to have more fun and that's done in bed. Steel Challenge can be done with pretty much any firearm, and if .22, gear is absolutely minimal which is why I shoot a .22 in SC. That was my hard sell. If you're interested let me know.

I'm near Waterville. Off the wall question... Do you shoot competitively? (USPSA) If so, I'm pretty sure there's a match in Augusta this Saturday and I plan to be there. I just checked, yes, it's Saturday at Capitol City Rifle & Pistol Club. It's easy to get to, but depending on how far south you are it could be a haul.

At least one. I'm in central Maine.

I don't know about rail heights, but I like to raise my sight so that I'm not skoonching my head down through contortions to see through the sight(s). I've had people comment on the height until they try it. Just raise the gun up and put the buffer tube where it's comfortable and look through the sights, no contortions required. The downside? The distance between the barrel and the sight can be large and that needs to be taken into account when the target is close for pinpoint accuracy. Unless you're squirrel hunting pinpoint accuracy isn't required. Raising the sights up also allows the buttpad to actually be in place in the shoulder pocket and not floating above it. Yes, sights that high will look strange, but they're there to actually work and not for looks. Straight line recoil stocks require raised sights. That's just the way it is. I hope I addressed your question. It doesn't take a fortune to have various height "mounts" in stock. There are risers available to add or remove height as needed and they can be stacked to find what you need. edit: I don't see your location, but if you were near me (probably not) we could fit you to find what you need.

Do you have loading manuals? Online info might work, IDK. I've been handloading for 55 years and haven't looked into how good online sources are today for noobs. But be careful of online loads. I'm not proud of it but I recently wrote WW231 instead of WW296. It was done innocently enough but the powders have hugely different burn rates. I went back and corrected it ASAP. Mind farts happen, people are human. I check online loads through the filter of experience and burn rate charts to see if they're anywhere close to reality. You should too. There are many places online to get burn rate charts. If a powder uses something outlandish as compared to other known safe loads shy away from it. Unless you're going for a subsonic load reduce the starting load by 15-20% and work up. Don't go for max' velocity. Stay away from that. Of you need more energy on target get a different cartridge. Subsonic loads are worked up differently (they're worked down). You might want to get a chronograph to see what your load is actually doing. Sky screen models work but are a PITA to set up, some require 110v and clear skies, BTDT. I like the LabRadar units, they're so much easier, but they don't do shotshells reliably, they're extremely portable, don't require 110v and the sky is meaningless. But it's not mandatory for reloading. But as a handloader (as opposed to a reloader) eventually you'll want data. Just keep it in mind. If you do want to push pressure, does your mic' read to the 1/10,000"? Measuring the case head, same 2 points will tell if you need to back off on the pressure. But as I already wrote, don't push pressure/velocity. Need more ft/lbs on target? Use a different cartridge. If you are working up a load for a 150 grain bullet but onl have load data for a 165 (similar construction) you can use it knowing that it's going to be safe. Just don't go the other way without significant downloading. OK, now a story. I once knew a chap with 2 kids, one was a boy who was newly into shooting and had too mush $ and not enough sense to ask questions. He was reloading for .223 and bought powder locally which meant that he never had enough of one powder and had to use various other powders. When he told me he was loading maximum loads with every powder I about pooped myself. No testing, no working up. Just using book load data and blindly loading. All loads were put into an ammo can so any attempt at saving powder was useless. You don't want to be that child. Keep records, test, start slow and build up to get what you want. Label everything, get ammo boxes. I chamber gauge everything today, esp' semi-auto ammo, but I have to say that before chamber gauging I never had an issue. But today I shoot lots of semi-autos and in years past it was lots of bolt actions (neck sized for that particular rifle) that cam closed. You are entering the rabbit hole. It can be shallow or as deep as you want to go. You can be a reloader or a handloader. You decide and you can change the decision at any time.

I got to test the load tonight and it works, near as I can tell, as I want. I need bigger vermin to show up. As seen in the test in the shop there was a boom (probably not hearing safe) but no blast.

Welcome to the forum! So sorry you live behind enemy lines. I saw what was coming many decades ago and got the hell out. I still have family there and I think it must be like a coyote sitting on a cactus for them. I hear the stories and then look at their eyes when they come to visit in my free state and can't believe what we can buy over the counter. You know you can move, right? They'll tax the crap out of you to leave the state, but you can choose to live free or stay behind enemy lines. Can't help with the AR10 since I have a .300BLK AR where things are much simpler.